Logitech's line of Harmony universal remote controls are some of the most popular universal remotes out there. The Harmony line is notable for being easy to program rather than having to type in long numerical codes for devices. Logitech has announced a new addition to its Harmony line of universal remote controls, and this is the first new remote to be launched in the series in a long time.

The remote is called the Logitech Harmony Touch and adds an interesting touchscreen to the middle of the remote that looks quite similar to the Harmony One's screen. The main difference in looks between the new Harmony Touch and the Harmony One is the placement of the Touch's 2.4-inch color display.

That color display is designed to show users various buttons and icons. One of the more interesting uses for the screen is to show icons for your favorite channels allowing you to go to those channels with a single tap. The remote control also supports the activities macros that the Harmony line is famous for.

The Activities macros allow you to set up single button presses that will change inputs and turn on specific components for different things such as playing video games or watching movies. All the buttons on the remote control are backlit to make them easy to find and use in the dark. The remote can also be used to initiate Skype video phone calls if your TV is equipped with the Logitech TV Cam HD.

The Logitech Harmony Touch will ship this month at a retail price of $249.99.

I want to look at the tv while pressing the buttons so I can see the effect pressing the buttons is having. I can do that with a remote with real buttons because I can feel them, with a touch screen there is no tactile feedback so you need to keep looking at the remote or you press the wrong thing.

Similarly I also want to rest my fingers over the remote - with real buttons it takes pressure to press them so that's fine. With a touch screen if I brush the screen I press a button, making it more fiddly to hold and use.

This remote is a terrible disappointment, the lack of buttons is silly. There are no skip forward and back buttons, which means that that function will be relegated to a touch gesture, the same goes for the missing numerical buttons. I use my remote without looking at it, and if that screen is as unresponsive as the one on the Harmony One then forget about it.

With the advances in small touch screens and processing power recently, Logitech had an opportunity to fix all of the issues with the Harmony One. For $250 they could do a lot more, put little LED screens under some of the buttons for customization options, throw some wifi on there and get it on the Internet so that I don't have to plug it into my USB cable to show it how to work.